Background
The Challenge
RTL interactive pools Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s digital, interactive and transaction-based lines of business, beyond traditional, ad-financed free TV. The company develops innovative topics, products and platforms that are attractive both for the public and for advertisers.
The TV NOW video-on-demand service by RTL interactive launched a new offer in the beginning of 2016. With the launch of TV NOW PLUS, RTL interactive merged their six program specific platforms with various payment models into one comprehensive platform with a single payment model.
Prior to the launch of TV NOW, RTL interactive offered different interactive video portals and subscription models for individual channels and even individual formats. The target was to migrate all subscribers of the former product to these offers to the new portal via a launch campaign.
For the migration of existing subscribers and acquisition of new subscribers, as well as the generation of learnings for the regular communication, a six-level, multi-variate email marketing campaign was designed. With the multitude of factors, factor characteristics and thus different email variants, the challenge consisted in identifying the truly decision-relevant criteria for a successful mailing, not only on the total distribution level but also for individual target groups. Furthermore, the processes involved had to be automated so that the expense of the campaign could be reduced to an economically justifiable extent.
Another challenge came from the complexity of the target groups. Not only subscribers of the former product and non-subscribers had to be distinguished, but the existing subscribers also had to be segregated according to type and state of the existing subscriptions. Another consideration to bear in mind, was whether the contact had installed an RTL app since app users were to be contacted via app push notification in addition to the email marketing campaign.
The most successful email achieved an open rate of 46.6%, a click rate of 8.8% and a conversion rate of 2%
The Apteco Solution
RTL interactive license the Apteco marketing software via their chosen Apteco approved reseller in Germany - artegic AG. In order to individually address target groups, a complex target group selection was generated in Apteco FastStats®.
For the technical basis of the communication, a customer-centred 360° database was established where data from customer profiles, subscriptions and the video usage behaviour of customers was merged, as well as marketing automation which output individualised communication based on this data. Through the integration with FastStats, RTL interactive can transfer behaviour and profile-based findings directly in the automated campaigns via email and mobile push. To further refine the addressing, in addition to the target group selection and the multi-variate testing, all available user data from portals was to be included. This means, customer profiles include which formats the customer viewed and how often, which they selected as favourites or created in their playlist, at what time during the day they used their offers, for how long they viewed a format, etc.
The Apteco marketing software enabled RTL interactive to create very complex selections, which were used for example, to tailor the email content to the customer's favourite formats so that, every customer could view the trailer in their favourite format.
The impact on the business
Explore some examples of how companies currently benefit from Apteco FastStats®.
48 different variants sent in the first wave
The launch campaign ran in six levels, on each level, different parameters were tested. Segmentation according to existing the subscription model as well as individualisation according to behavioural data was applied on each level. Different subject lines, individualisation in email content as well as call-to-action variants were tested.
Optimisation of communications
All contacts who did not migrate during the first level, were re-targeted with the second level. The findings from the first level were applied. With each wave, other factors and combinations were tested - through the whole campaign over 150 variants. The communication could then successively be optimised.
72% of existing subscribers migrated
Throughout all levels of the complete campaign, 72% of existing subscribers and 5% of non-subscribers could be converted.
Email open rate 46.6%
The most successful email achieved an open rate of 46.6%, a click rate of 8.8% and a conversion rate of 2%
In total 222% of the total stock of customers at the time of the campaign end have been acquired. On average, a result uplift of 322% could be achieved through the multi-variate testing.